‘This is Anfield’: The History Of The Iconic Sign That Was Bill Shankly’s Idea | OneFootball

There aren’t many clubs in world football that boast as many iconic pieces of memorabilia as Liverpool. Manchester United’s Old Trafford is obviously a famous ground, but the desire to refer to it as the ‘Theatre of Dreams’ means that many people struggle to take it seriously.

The likes of the Bernabeu in Spain or the San Siro in Italy are both famous, but neither have the same kind of aura around them that Anfield can boast. It is why the ‘This is Anfield’ sign is steeped in such a sense of mythology, but what is the sign’s history?

Installed by Bill Shankly

Stuart Frisby, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Bill Shankly is often thought of as being the father of modern day Liverpool. He arrived when the club was languishing in what was then the Second Division, not only helping the Reds to gain promotion but also leading them to become the best team in the country and one of the best in the world.

The Scot was known for any number of brilliant quotes, many of which have been inspirational to both players and supporters for the generations that followed his arrival at the club. It is perhaps not all that surprising, then, that the sign was his idea.



Danny Dwyer, who was once a Liverpool Football Club tour guide, said that the idea behind the plaque was given to him by one of the groundsmen working at the club at the time. He took it to Peter Robinson, the Club Secretary at the time, who took it to Shanks for his approval. The problem was that the initial sign said, “Welcome to Anfield” and Shankly disapproved.

His feeling was that opposition players were not there to have a good time, so offering them a welcome wasn’t what anything inside Anfield should do.

Why it Got Put Up

Instead of a sign saying ‘Welcome to Anfield’, Shankly changed it to ‘This is Anfield’. He would later say, “It’s there to remind our lads who they’re playing for and to remind the opposition who they’re playing against!”

The famous sign was born on the back of Shankly’s alteration to something suggested by a groundskeeper and has remained there ever since. Obviously some opposition supporters like to mock it and many a player has suggested that it does nothing to them, but the major wins at the ground since suggest otherwise.

Would the results against teams like St. Etienne, Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona have taken place without the ‘This is Anfield’ sign? Almost certainly, because of the vociferous nature of the supporters, but as soon as they began to get behind the various teams there is little doubt that the sign’s message will have flashed into the minds of the opposition players. It is intended to be intimidating to others and supportive to those who call Anfield their home, which is why it is that it has remained part of the club ever since it was first put up.

Not the Original Sign

This is Anfield sign in 1997 – Mike Pennington, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The sign that sits above the tunnel, greeting players from both teams before they make their way down to the pitch to be greeted by tens of thousands of Liverpool supporters isn’t the original. Instead, it is one that was put up during the Bob Paisley era before being taken down in 1998.

At that point, another one was put up and the Paisley sign was placed into storage, remaining there until 2012 when Brendan Rodgers decided to dig the Paisley one out of storage and put it back into its rightful place. That Paisley one has remained in place ever since.

The original sign is no longer owned by Liverpool. That actually sat behind the bar at a bed & breakfast on the Isle of Man, with the owner having bought the Shankly-era one at a time when few realised how significant it would be. Nowadays it is in a private collection, meaning that it is not possible to see it unless you happen to know the family that own it.

The sign currently in place has seen its own wealth of success, of course, not just from the Paisley era but also thanks to the work of Jürgen Klopp and others in winning trophies for the Reds.

Touching the Sign

Mheref36, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The ‘This is Anfield’ sign has been touched by countless players over the years, with both home and opposition players choosing to put a hand on it as they walked out of the tunnel and onto the famous Anfield turf. That all changed when Jürgen Klopp was appointed as Liverpool manager; at least as far as his own players were concerned. The German told his players that they were not allowed to touch the sign until they had won a trophy and added to the Wall of Champions, where all of the trophies won by Liverpool are listed.

As a result, modern players were only allowed to touch the sign in the wake of the 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League final of 2019. With the Premier League, FA Cups and League cups following, the former manager will no doubt have felt as though his move to ensure only trophy winners were allowed to touch it was entirely justified. Not that such a rule applies to visitors to Anfield, of course. If you do a tour then there is nothing to stop you from reaching up and touching the sign as you make your way down the tunnel.

For some, there is a huge amount of superstition around the sign. Klopp himself understood the symbology of the sign, which is why he not only introduced the rule around touching it but also told off one of the players who touched it before they had won anything. Superstitions are complete nonsense, of course, but they offer some people a degree of comfort. It is why there will always be some supporters unwilling to touch the sign or annoyed at players who choose to do so before tasting success in a Red shirt.